Once again I am not necesssarily endorsing contract towers but we've had them for almost twenty years. If they were that unsafe the municipalities that operate these airports would be raising all kinds of hell. In 1974 I was the CTO (Control Tower Operator) Examiner for Waukesha Wisconsin Tower. I certified all their initially qualified air traffic controllers. Cleveland Burke Lakefront (where I was the Chief in 1976-77) and Cleveland Cuyahoga County are two prime examples of Contract Towers. In Waukesha's case had they not obtained a Contract Tower they wouldn't have had one because they did not qualify for an FAA tower. You needed more than 50,000 itinerant operations per year. Touch and goes and low approaches do not count for the 50M. Al ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alireza Alivandivafa" <DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 5:56 PM Subject: Re: Tripling of Capacity for Air Traffic > ATC is something that is inherently governmental, just from the sheer fact that it crosses state lines and deals with safety. Privatized ATC is an invite for disaster >